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The rise and fall of the fastest cruise liner ever built

The fastest ocean liner ever built

Before the era of meandering voyages around the Caribbean, cruise ships were built for speed. Ocean liners needed to carry people from A to B as quickly as possible, with the fastest ship of the age (measured by the time it took to cross the Atlantic) awarded the Blue Riband.

Brunel's SS Great Western snatched the accolade in 1838 after it took just over 15 days to travel from Avonmouth to New York. Over the subsequent 114 years, the Blue Riband was held by scores of other liners, mostly registered in Britain or the US, but with a handful from Germany, Italy and France. Fifteen Cunard ships have held it, including RMS Lusitania, which completed the journey in under five days before it was sunk by a German submarine in 1915, and the RMS Queen Mary, which took three days, 21 hours and 48 minutes to travel from Bishop Rock on the Isles of Scilly to Ambrose Light in Lower New York Bay.

Since 1952, however, the record hasn't been touched. The SS United States, which made its maiden voyage on this day in 1951, remains the fastest liner ever built, having taken just three days, 12 hours and 12 minutes to cross the Atlantic. That's an average speed of 34.51 knots.